Las Vegas Summer League Day SevenJuly 19, 2008-Bobby Brown had yet another great game, showing good point guard skills running the pick and roll. He had a number of extremely impressive finishes around the rim, and showed excellent poise as the go-to guy in New Orleans’ offense. Defensively he looks much improved after spending last season in Europe, and he also seems to be doing a better job cutting down on turnovers as well. He’s done a lot of good for himself this week showcasing both his passing and scoring ability, and clearly still has a great deal of room left to improve. It shouldn’t surprise anyone if he ended up getting a guaranteed NBA contract out of his summer league performance, as he appears to be one of the top point guards to be found in Vegas. [Read Full Article]Las Vegas Summer League Day FiveJuly 16, 2008Brown continues to show well here, and looks to have an outside shot at making an NBA roster going into the season. The guard again displayed top-level athleticism, particularly on two breakaway dunks that drew some big cheers from the crowd. In the half-court, he showed both the ability to shoot the three pointer and find his teammates on the drive. He's not a true point guard, but has solid enough vision to play a third point type of role. Defensively, his lack of bulk may hurt him at the NBA level. Brown has continued to turn a lot of head among the NBA scouts we've talked to this week, and it will be interesting to see where he ends up for training camp. [Read Full Article]Las Vegas Summer League Day ThreeJuly 14, 2008Today, Brown offered scouts a reminder of just how good he can be when the game gets out of control. He had a very hard time scoring and running the show in the first half, but didn’t turn the ball over all the much. In the second, he turned things on, using the frantic pace of the game to get a handful of deflections leading to run outs resulting in nice alley oop passes, multiple trips to the line, and a handful of lay ups. He even managed to jump over a defender on his way to missed dunk that he finished with two free throws. Unlike last Summer League, Brown struggled mightily from the outside today, looking pretty tentative when given space to pull the trigger from the perimeter. Still, he showed just how unbelievably talented he is when considering his terrific combination of size and athleticism, and is certainly a guy NBA scouts are keeping close tabs on. [Read Full Article]Blogging Through Five Overtimes (Part Five: Germany)December 5, 2007Bobby Brown was the unquestioned hero of this game, scoring 44 points on 12-29 shooting from the field and 16-19 from the free throw line, to go along with 7 assists, 7 rebounds, and 6 turnovers in 60 minutes.

What’s ironic here is that Brown was pretty bad to start off this game—scoring only 4 points in the first half on 1-7 shooting. That means he proceeded to score 40 points in the next 45 minutes. You can imagine the way it looked.

Having scouted and written about Brown extensively throughout the years, at three private workouts, two NBA pre-draft camps, numerous college games, summer league, and now a ULEB Cup game, we’ve pretty got a pretty good perspective on what kind of player he is by now. He’s always been an outstanding offensive player, combining a fantastic stroke from behind the arc with a deadly pull-up jumper from mid-range, but Brown is now starting to become a lot more aggressive attacking the rim as well—something his coaches are stressing from him every single day in practice from what they told me.

He’s such an athletic player that no one was able to stay in front of him in this game, hence the 19 free throw attempts. He actually would have scored over 50 points had he been able to convert a couple of fairly easy layups that he missed right at the rim. Brown is getting stronger in the upper body (not a surprise since conditioning and weightlifting is a huge deal to his coach Luka Pavicevic—he even brought over the legendary physical trainer from FMP Zeleznik to work here), but he could still stand to put on even more weight, especially in the lower body.

Brown was not only his team’s leading scorer in this game, but also the engine that carried them to victory. When they were down by 5 points with 44 seconds to go in the fourth overtime, it was him that lead the charge back into the game by putting tremendous pressure on the defense with his slashes to the rim. In the 3rd overtime when his team was down by 3 points with just a few seconds left on the clock, it was Bobby the one who stepped up and knocked down the 3-pointer in miraculous fashion, after already having saved the game with a Jerry Rice style catch in the endzone (and eventual converted layup) with 37 seconds left. In the 5th overtime, it was his 3-pointer that opened up the floodgates for the eventual victory. He mixed that in with a steady dose of courageous finishes at the basket and pull-up jumpers from mid-range. And throughout the game when he stepped to the free throw line, he showed absolutely no fear or fatigue whatsoever, hitting clutch free throw after clutch free throw (especially in the last few seconds of the fourth quarter and fourth overtime).

Where did he find the energy? It’s one thing to play 63 minutes like Goran Nikolic wisely did, clearly saving his energy for when his team needed him most, but Brown was needed on every single possession, bringing the ball up the floor, creating offense for himself and his team off the dribble, and never really looking like he was anywhere near as tired as he should have been by the end. Talking to him in the VIP reception room after the game, you would have thought that he just got back from the movie theater instead of having finished one of the most grueling games in the history of professional basketball.

During the course of this game, I wondered to myself numerous times whether the fact that Brown went undrafted was actually a huge blessing for a player like him. Not having played at a very high level in college in the Big West conference, there were obviously many parts of his game that he needed to round out before he’d be able to fully capitalize on his terrific potential.

He didn’t always read defenses very well, particularly off screens, his shot-selection was poor at times, he had the tendency to settle too often for 3-pointers, he overdribbled at times, suffered from mental lapses with his decision making, and his defense was nothing short of awful, especially guarding the pick and roll.

These are all things he’s still suffering from occasionally, but has been working on every single day with an incredibly demanding coach who puts a huge emphasis on practice. He’s then allowed to go out and utilize what he’s learned playing two games a week at a very high level. And according to his coach Luka Pavicevic—he’s showing a lot of progress every single week, although he still demands a lot more out of him.

Brown wasn’t supposed to be Alba Berlin’s starting point guard (Goran Jeretin got injured as noted), but that’s what ended up happening, and Brown is now gaining an incredible amount of experience that some of his rookie counterparts in the NBA who are sitting on the bench and barely practicing will probably never be able to make up. And that my friends, is the value of playing in Europe. Some players look at it as a punishment, while others realize that the NBA draft is only one day and that making a career in basketball is a marathon and not a race. Bobby Brown has made up a lot of ground in that marathon this year, and will put some distance between himself and many members of this rookie class if he continues to work hard and improve. [Read Full Article]Orlando Pre-Draft Camp: Day ThreeJune 1, 2007After a slow start in the camp yesterday, Bobby Brown played slightly better today, but certainly didn’t do anything to raise his draft stock. In transition, he pushed the ball up the floor a number of times, and was fouled on an athletic dunk attempt that he almost threw down in traffic. The up and down style of offense seems to be a good fit for Brown, who played in an athletic run and gun conference in the Big West.

In the half court, Brown made a number of poor decisions as the primary initiator of the offense. In the NBA, his role will likely to spot up for three pointers, but it would greatly help his chances if he could show better command of a half court offense. He did make a couple of nice dump downs where he dished the ball to an open Aaron Gray after breaking down the defense.

Brown’s perimeter shot lacked consistency today as well, with his only two made jumpers coming from a step inside the NBA three point line. He was known for the ability to pull-up for the three pointer at any time in college, but this hasn’t translated to the camp in Orlando thus far. In terms of jump shot elevation, he gets a good deal of lift from mid-range but is lacking in this area from behind the three point line. Bobby Brown has yet to excel in a draft camp setting, but a very good college season combined with strong pre-draft workouts will certainly keep him on the radar of some NBA teams. [Read Full Article]Orlando Pre-Draft Camp: Day TwoMay 30, 200711 points in 19 minutes was a pretty nice way for Brown to start off the camp when comparing with his effort last year. He looked to distribute mainly early in the game, playing under control and minimizing mistakes, but found his scoring groove for short stretches later on in the game pulling up for jumpers from mid-range in the early offense and pushing the ball up the floor. He also used his quick first step and nice ball-handling skills to get into the lane and get to the free throw line, although his first priority was usually to look for the open man. Encouraging was the fact that he played solid perimeter defense as well, particularly in the drills we saw early in the morning. [Read Full Article]West Coast Workout Swing:Day 4 (Nick Young,Bobby Brown,Danny Granger)May 23, 2007We had the pleasure of watching Bobby Brown both at the workout here in Reseda as well as in a couple of five on five pickup games together with the Abunassar Impact Basketball clients at the Home Depot Center in Carson, where Brown was easily the most impressive player playing, and not by a small margin.

Brown’s team consisted of David Bluthenthal, Keoni Watson, Marcel Jones and Nate Funk. That’s not exactly a lineup that would strike fear in the hearts of most opponents, but they beat the slightly more imposing team of Brandon Heath, Danny Granger, DaShaun Wood, Adam Haluska and Quinton Hosely more times than they lost, mostly thanks to the terrific job Brown did for them at the point.

The Cal State Fullerton grad ran the team unselfishly, showing great athleticism pushing the ball up in transition and either finishing above the rim himself or finding people himself with flashy court vision. Playing for a fairly awful team for the past four years where he still finished up with over 5 assists a game and a solid assist to turnover ratio his senior year, we’ve never really had a chance to evaluate his point guard skills alongside decent talent until these pick up games. And even though it wasn’t an incredibly competitive setting, there was a lot to be impressed by.

Brown scored a good amount of points in this game, either knocking down contested threes with a sweet stroke and a super quick release, finishing at the rim with superb leaping ability (sometimes in highlight reel fashion), or stopping on a dime creating separation from mid-range with fantastic elevation on his pull-up jumper. He has a great crossover he uses to keep his man off balance, a full arsenal of hesitation moves at his disposal, and all the quickness and shiftiness needed in the world to get into the paint. He showed some great vision finding teammates off the bounce, but also overdid it a bit at times with some careless passes.

Being a West Coast guard with an up and down mentality, it’s no shock to see him look fantastic in this type of setting. Put him on the right team in the NBA (he’s the 367th player in this draft who would look great in a Suns uniform…) and he would be able to find similar success, but he’s also going to have to show the ability to run an offense legitimately in a half-court as well. That’s not saying he can’t, but we haven’t really seen that at this point. As a change of pace guard off the bench he will probably be fine, but NBA teams will want to see him play excellent half-court defense at the pre-draft camp as well to compensate for his lack of size and length. He measured out at the pre-draft camp at 6-1 in shoes with a 6-2 wingspan.

In the workout we saw against Nick Young, it was even more of the same. Brown put on a shooting display reminiscent of the workout from the previous day featuring Martell Webster and J.J. Redick, absolutely lighting up the net to the tune of 62/76 from the 3-point line (half college, half NBA), a ridiculous 82%. He gets up so high on his jump-shot and does it so quickly thanks to his terrific 42 inch running vertical leap, allowing him to get his shot off almost whenever he pleases, despite his lack of size. From mid-range he looked absolutely deadly off the dribble, knocking down 15 straight jumpers from this range (18 feet out) consecutively. It looks like this could be a very nice go-to move for him in the NBA, particularly when he decides to add in a slight fade-away. Although he seems to like Nick Young as well, it’s Bobby Brown that got Danny Granger the most excited, causing him to say things like “he can definitely play in our league” and “he’s got the entire package offensively.”

There is a caveat, though. Last year we saw him work out in this very gym and he put on a similar show shooting the ball. We went as far as to call him our sleeper pick for MVP of the Orlando pre-draft camp. He went onto have a terrible camp. This year he’s one year smarter, and coming off a much better season in college. He’s currently watching footage of last year’s Orlando pre-draft camp in order to recognize the mistakes he made and figure out how to maximize himself this time around. If he can translate even half of the ability he showed at the 360 Health Club in Reseda to the Milk House in Orlando, he’s got a legit shot at landing himself in the late first round. DraftExpress will be there in full force to see how he looks. [Read Full Article]NCAA Weekly Performers-- 2/28/2007, Part OneFebruary 28, 2007After testing his stock and working his way through pre-draft camp after his junior season, Brown decided to return to Fullerton and work on his game and degree rather than trying his luck with the draft. His decision has appeared to pay off thus far, as he increased his scoring average, assist average and assist to turnover ratio, and now ranks as Cal State Fullerton’s all time leading scorer. In a rare TV appearance over the weekend, Brown displayed his ability to shoot the lights out at times, but he also displayed limitations that may hurt his upside as a prospect.

Athletically, Brown runs the court well, and has good quickness and coordination. He also possesses good leaping ability, but he needs to work on how he uses it. When pulling up off the dribble in the mid-range, Brown elevates well, but he lacks this same type of lift when shooting from behind the three point line. The biggest asset Bobby Brown brings to the game is the ability to shoot the ball from anywhere on the court. Due to a quick release, Brown never seems bothered when shooting the ball under pressure. He shoots the ball all the way out to NBA range without too much trouble at this point, and can knock it down while he’s set and off the dribble. Brown has plenty of success at Fullerton when he runs the high pick and roll, where he can score with the long three pointer or take advantage of his mid-range game. From 10-15 feet, he can constantly pull-up and knock down the jumper, or he goes to a floater that works well against bigger players.

During his senior season at Fullerton, Brown has shown continual improvement in his point guard skills. Against Cal-Poly, he displayed the ability to draw the defense and kick the ball out to the open man. He found cutters on their way to the hoop on more than one occasion also, and even hit his teammate for an alley-oop on a backdoor cut. When dribbling the floor and running the offense, he keeps his head up and constantly looks for the open man. Brown currently leads the Big West conference in assists, and has improved his assist to turnover ratio to nearly 1.5 this season.

A few weaknesses might make teams think twice before drafting Bobby Brown this June. Brown remains skinny at this point, and lacks the size you like to see in an NBA point guard. Despite being listed at 6’2,” he measured in at 6’0.75” inches at the pre-draft camp. Brown is already a poor defender at the college level, and this will be compounded by his lack of size at the next level. Though he has good versatility as a scorer, he rarely takes the ball all the way to the hoop, which leads to a low number of free throws attempted. He also has the tendency to go to his right more often, though he seems to have the ability to go left as well. Brown has improved his point guard skills this season, but it doesn’t appear that he’ll ever be a true floor general.

In the Big West conference, Brown faces a lot of undersized shoot-first guards who run the point. He has established himself as the best point guard in the conference throughout the season, and team success will only help his draft stock. Cal State Fullerton currently resides in second place in the Big West, and it will be necessary for them to win the conference tournament in order the make the NCAA Tournament. Brown has a reputation for being a big game player, and a NCAA berth might give him the exposure he needs to elevate his stock on draft boards, particularly in terms of playing against more high caliber competition than he sees in the Big West. [Read Full Article]Weekly Top Performers: Holiday EditionDecember 20, 2006He has a nice stroke from behind the three point line, and he couldn’t miss on Saturday. Brown can create separation off the dribble, and gets his shot off very quickly. He also has a solid first step and good quickness with the ball in his hands. He has the ability to finish inside thanks to nice touch and a knowledge of where to put the ball on the glass to keep it from larger shot blockers.

Unfortunately, Brown has a lot to prove when it comes to being a point guard. For now, he plays off the ball quite a bit because of his scoring abilities, and doesn’t display ideal point guard skills. His court vision is limited, and he hasn’t totaled more than 4 assists in a game this season. In 6 games this year, Brown has more turnovers than he does assists, and his career high in assist to turnover ratio is only 1.5, less than ideal for a point guard. His size limits him on the defensive end, and he will need to learn to make better use of his lateral quickness in this area. Offensively Brown lacks a mid-range game when his inconsistent tear drop floater isn’t falling. In the future, he will face much bigger and more athletic big men, and it will be vital for him to develop some consistent means of scoring when he is having an off night in terms of outside shooting.

To best improve his draft stock, Bobby Brown will need to continue to score the ball well, and show more in terms of being a point guard. If he can improve his assist to turnover ratio, it will greatly improve his status in the eyes of NBA decision makers. Brown has a bright future playing basketball, but the question for now is will it be in the NBA. [Read Full Article]West Coast Swing: Bobby Brown WorkoutJune 4, 2006For the third part of our West Coast Swing, we were fortunate enough to catch Bobby Brown in an exclusive workout in LA. Brown was nice enough to grant us a 45 minute workout despite the fact that he had worked out earlier that day for the Los Angeles Clippers. In it, he put on one of the more impressive offensive displays we’ve seen in a workout in the three years we’ve been doing this.

Jonathan Givony, DraftExpress.com

Brown is your classic case of an NBA draft sleeper. He played for one of the top prep programs in the country at Westchester High School in Los Angeles, but struggled to get minutes playing alongside future Division I standouts such as Hassan Adams, Trevor Ariza, Brandon Bowman, Ashanti Cook, Brandon Heath and others. Not being fully developed physically before he hit a late growth spurt and not getting much playing time until his senior year, he flew completely under the radar of most Division I schools. Despite being only 5-9 and 150 pounds at the time, Cal State Fullerton decided to take a chance on him, and things worked out extremely well for him. Brown was named Big West freshman of the year after averaging 13 points and 3.5 assists per game, and really began to make a name for himself a sophomore by scoring just under 17 points and 5 assists per game. After being recruited by programs such as Portland, Northern Arizona and Fullerton in high school, a number of NCAA championship caliber division one schools came calling after his sophomore season to try to get him to transfer, but Brown had his heart set on the NBA after dominating the Pro-Am league. It was there that he went up against the likes of Earl Watson, Baron Davis, Jordan Farmar, Gabe Pruitt, and established himself as one of, if not the top college point guard on the West Coast.

Brown’s junior year was a bit inconsistent. He struggled with injuries at times and was rotated on and off the ball by his coaching staff that was desperately looking for a way to help the team win more games. Being a late bloomer, he was still maturing mentally as a basketball player as well as physically, and did not always deal well with the poor play of his less talented teammates. Brown still impressed enough to have NBA scouts and executives courtside in every one of his games, and scored 20 points or more in 11 of his 29 games, and 9 with at least 7 assists. Brown declared for the draft in May and is keeping his college eligibility open until his draft stock becomes a bit more clear. He has been working out one on one with Baron Davis occasionally to help improve his defense, and has added 7 pounds to his skinny frame to get him up to 172 pounds. He’ll be playing in the Orlando pre-draft camp this upcoming week, and based on what we saw in LA, should be considered one of the early favorites for Orlando pre-draft camp MVP.

Due to the fact that Brown had worked out for the Los Angeles Clippers earlier that day, he went in for a shortened 45 minute workout in order to keep his legs fresh. He showed off his smooth ball-handling skills with a series of full-court drills, and then went straight into shooting drills from mid-range and the NBA 3-point line. From mid-range (the elbows of the post) he shot 19/20 from the left side, 20/20 from the right, and then 19/20 from each baseline. He then worked his way around the NBA 3-point line from one baseline to another, five stations in all, with the third being the straightaway. From the left corner he shot 5/5, then 5/7, 5/6, 5/7 and 5/6 from the right corner, for a total of 25/31, or 81%. His release is superbly quick and he gets good elevation on his jump-shot from mid-range, but not so much from NBA-range, like most college players we’ve seen.

Jonathan Givony, DraftExpress.com

A local 6-2 Division I guard joined him for the one on one session, where Brown’s true colors as a scorer really came out. He absolutely dominated the workout from that point, scoring on him on 14 or 15 straight possessions in every single way imaginable, from behind the 3-point line, mid-range, and by slashing to the hoop. Brown has outstanding quickness and overall explosiveness, and could absolutely not be stayed in front of. His footwork is superb, which allows him to create his own shot at will, and he is absolutely a wizard at creating separation from his defender when elevating from mid-range.

Brown showed off a wide-array of crafty moves from the triple threat position; jab-steps, shot-fakes, freeze fakes, and more. Brown would explode past his defender and then step back sharply off a crossover and elevate high off the ground for a picture perfect jump-shot, very rarely getting anything but pure nylon. His handle is extremely tight and this allows him to use a variety of hesitation moves while constantly changing gears and keeping his man on his heels. Brown is extremely crafty with his finish as well, being able to go up and dunk it strong if he pleases, but also showing a nice pivot move in the post to get his man off-balance and then go back up in the opposite direction and finish fundamentally with the jump-hook.

Scoring is something that comes very naturally to him, as his instincts on the offensive end are absolutely superb. In the rare case that he would miss and the possession would change hands, Brown would just jump right in his man’s grill, move his feet quickly and even react for the block on the perimeter on one occasion. As the workout came to a close, Brown showed off his hops by skying for a dunk, and then apologetically said that he thinks he’d had enough for the day.

In terms of weaknesses, obviously there wasn’t going to be much to take away from this type of setting. What he’ll need to do in Orlando is show off his point guard skills, which is something that was hard to properly evaluate playing for a team (and in a conference) where he is miles ahead of anyone else in terms of pure talent. His defense looked very good in this workout, but the level of competition left something to be desired.

Brown is in great shape to make a big splash in Orlando, as the ball will be in his hands for plenty of possessions and he’ll have his opportunity to show off all the skills scouts want to see. There is no doubt that this type of setting is tailor made to his game. He doesn’t have to go in there and become Steve Nash all of a sudden, since he’s a lead-guard first and foremost and that will always be his biggest strength, but he will need to show that he can effectively run a team and find the open man.

We spoke about this issue precisely following the workout, and Brown indicted that “leadership, toughness, and defense” are the things he most wants to show executives in Orlando. He says that he is a “point guard that scores, but likes to pass, and will be able to show that with more athletic guys around him.” His overall goal in the month of June is to “get into the 1st round,” but he did make it clear that that alone won’t be the deciding factor in whether or not he stays in the draft. He’s only done a couple of workouts at this point due to the fact that he only finished school on the 26th and NCAA rules do not permit underclassmen who are testing the waters to work out for NBA teams until their semester is over.

DraftExpress is already in Orlando and will be following Bobby Brown and all the other prospects closely in both the drills and the actual games, so stay tuned this week for some of the most detailed coverage ever of the NBA pre-draft camp. [Read Full Article]Bobby Brown NBA Draft Scouting ReportFebruary 12, 2006Strengths
Brown is an excellent athlete who possesses most of the physical attributes and skills NBA teams look for in a backup point guard. He doesn’t have great size at around 6 feet, but he makes up for that to a certain extent with his long arms and sheer explosiveness. He has great quickness and body control, which allows him to create his own shot with ease, get to the rim and finish. He’s extremely tough to stay in front of as he has terrific footwork and all the confidence in the world in his offensive ability.

Brown has a very smooth and polished offensive game and is prone to erupt for effortless looking scoring outbursts in very short spans. His ball-handling skills are very good, having all the skills needed to create space for himself offensively and get his man off balance and either create shots for himself or for his teammates if the defense collapses. He has all the little tricks and gimmicks that all great ball-handlers do, including the change of pace dribble, hesitation moves, a strong crossover, between the legs, behind the back, the reverse dribble, the pull-back and others. He changes gears in the blink of an eye, stopping on a dime and then just exploding past his man using crafty head and body fakes or just with his pure quickness. If the lane isn’t there he can use his footwork to come to an immediate halt and then jump backwards purposefully to knock down the mid-range jumper. He likes to skip through the lane horizontally to avoid contact, showing plenty of flash and creativity finishing in the lane; sometimes with a one-handed floater/runner ala Nick Van Exel.

Brown is a prolific 3-point shooter, possessing superb footwork and body control, a high and quick release on his jump shot, deep range and great elevation to get his shot off almost whenever he pleases—which is both a blessing and a curse. He makes tough contested shots look easy; fading away, going either left or right, squaring his shoulders, maintaining his balance and knocking down tough shots even in very tight spaces.

As a point guard Brown is at his best in transition, as he loves to push the tempo and is absolutely a blur in the open floor. He has a good feel for making difficult passes, whether in transition, in half-court sets in tight spaces or with a bullet-pass down the floor to a streaking teammate. He’s very flashy with the ball but sometimes tries to do too much to try and please the crowd.

On the other end of the floor Brown has all the tools in the world except for ideal height to be a very good defender if he can put it all together. His quickness, footwork and length make him a very good pressure defender when he puts his mind to it, which unfortunately he does not on a consistent basis. Still, he shows superb lateral movement at times gliding to stay in front of his man and has the quickness, hands and anticipation skills to get in the passing lanes and ignite the fast break.

Weaknesses
Brown is a classic late-bloomer who is still very much coming into his own as a player. He is missing a lot of intangibles that most star players hopefully pick up in high school, but he never did.

The first concern would be his size. His 6-1 listing might be an inch generous, and he’s a fairly skinny player on top of that. He’ll never be a power guard with his frame and will almost certainly take a beating night after night with his style of play in the league. Brown struggles fighting through screens defensively and might be overpowered by bigger, stronger guards who want to impose their will on him. At times he lacks the strength to finish at the basket, not showing the greatest touch in the world and missing a few gimmees almost every game. It’s unclear whether he’ll be able to finish as effectively in the NBA against bigger, longer, more athletic and much meaner opponents.

To counter that, he’ll have to improve his in-between game, especially in terms of pulling up off the dribble from 16-18 feet. He shows terrific sparks of this already, but needs to continue to hone this part of his game to help his offensive game translate to the NBA effectively, as it might end up being his bread and butter.

Brown is not a pure PG and does not even play the position full-time for his team. His playmaking skills can be questionable at times, especially in terms of controlling the tempo of his team, running half-court sets and making his teammates better. He’s not much of a floor general, showing poor leadership skills and often concerning body language, struggling to direct his teammates to do what they need to do and getting frustrated when they don’t.

Part of the reason for this is the fact that he plays for a terrible team that has very few legit offensive options besides him. Teams know that if they manage to shut him down, their chances of winning increase exponentially. He gets frustrated with his teammates and openly shows in on the court, throwing his hands in the air when they mess up or clapping his hands incessantly asking for the ball. He’s a bit of a one man show in his conference at times, rushing shots early in the offense and displaying poor shot-selection, being very turnover prone and making unforced errors that stem from a lack of concentration. He is a big time player with a small school mentality, so you have to wonder how quickly he will be able to adapt to having 4 players around him at all times who are just as good as him if not a lot better. This is really not a question we can answer until he actually plays in the NBA, and there will probably be an adjustment period. To his credit we can say that he does not look like a selfish me-first player who is just trying to rack up stats, there are definitely some more variables beyond that.

Brown can be a little too nonchalant at times, only really turning it on for short stretches rather than the full 40 minutes, being inconsistent from game to game and half to half, and not always playing with a ton of intensity. He doesn’t always look 100% motivated, as if he’s a bit bored with the opposition he goes up against even though he isn’t incredibly dominant at the Big West conference level. This especially shows up on the defensive end, where he is prone to turn it on and off depending on how he is playing and who he is going up against.

Competition
Brown plays in the Big West conference, which is ranked as the 25th best conference (of 32) in America in terms of RPI. The most well known and probably the best team in that conference is Pacific who went unbeaten in the conference last season and advanced a round in the NCAA tournament.

Cal State Fullerton has actually produced some decent NBA talent, with Bruce Bowen, Cedric Ceballos and most recently Pape Sow (a teammate of Brown’s) being the last 3 Titans to make the league.

In high school Brown played for one of the top programs in the country at Westchester High School in Los Angeles, but did not get a lot of playing time in his first few years. His teammates on that team include Hassan Adams (Arizona), Brandon Heath (San Diego State), Trevor Ariza (New York Knicks), Brandon Bowman (Georgetown) and Ashanti Cook (Georgetown).

Brown made an immediate impact as a freshman at CS-Fullerton, taking over the reigns as the team’s playmaker and doing a fine job of running a team that included eventual 2nd round draft pick Pape Sow. He was named the freshman of the year in the Big West for his efforts.

As a sophomore Brown continued to improve and ended up averaging nearly 17 points and 5 assists per game while helping his team to the 3rd round of the postseason NIT, where they lost to Georgetown.

In this his junior season, Brown has played both at the point as well as the 2-guard spot, as Fullerton at times have needed more of a scoring punch that he’d be able to deliver better playing off the ball. Injuries to his back and ankle have hampered him at times, and Fullerton is currently struggling to stay above the .500 mark, hovering around the middle of the pack in the Big West.

Outlook
Despite playing for a small team in a small conference, NBA scouts know exactly who Bobby Brown is and come to see him play on a regular basis.

Brown is widely expected to test the waters this year to see where his draft stock lies. He’s without a doubt the type of player that will look great in private workouts as the emphasis on shooting, athleticism and one on one play is tailor made to his style of play.

As a late-bloomer who is still nowhere near being a complete player, Brown will have to consider the pros and cons of coming out early and potentially not getting a lot of minutes to develop or staying at Fullerton and continuing to hone his all-around game at a low-level without much talent around him.

Comments
Patterns his game after Allen Iverson, all the way down to the sleeve on his right arm.